Jones didn't take 'long' to handle switch to retain title

BUDERIM'S Nic Jones had little trouble re-adjusting to the longboard at Alexandra Headland over the weekend, when he defended his Queensland title.

The promising natural footer came into the Queensland Longboard Championship with little preparation after a lengthy campaign on the short board, in which he competed in several ASP Junior and Queensland Championship Circuit events.

But he showed no signs of rustiness on Saturday when he stormed through his heats.

Then yesterday, he did enough in a see-sawing final to claim back-to-back state longboard crowns.

"I'm stoked to back up my title," Jones said.

"I feel like I peaked on Saturday in the earlier rounds, but I'm still happy with how I surfed on Sunday when the conditions turned out to be a bit harder.

"There was a lot of tough competition like Jesse Jerrems and Clinton Guest. They really took it up to me in the final and made it quite tricky."

Burleigh's Guest held the lead in the decider but Jones eventually prevailed with a two-wave total of 12.83 to edge Jerrems (11.80), Guest (11.17) and Joel Tilley (7.84).

Jones, who will compete in the Hayden Winter Classic at Alexandra Headland this weekend, was among a host of surfers to secure their spots at the Australian Titles in Port Macquarie later this year.

In the open women's final, Tugun's Erin Dark claimed honours with a combined-wave total of 11.56 over Buderim's Leanne Gilkes (9.56) and Currimundi's Kathryn Hughes (9.10).

Coolangatta's Jane Tranberg (4.54) and Cotton Tree's Yvette Kordick (4.27) also featured in the women's decider.